Closet quick fix

 After moving in and getting some of the unpacking done, my son's closet looked like this:

Look at all that unused space - that just will not do! Especially when my living room looked like this:

We already had all the bins except the white ones which I purchased at The Dollar General. I don't hang up any of my son's clothes because they fit in his dresser just fine and it's easier, so his closet was going to become toy storage.

I was able to score the wood for the shelves for free from a friend! They also cut me some strips of wood to go on the wall for the shelves to sit on. I bought 2 brackets for the middle of each shelf at Ace Hardware.

I ended up having to call my Dad for help (Thanks Dad!) because I didn't noticed the inside of the closet had trim all around the doorway. So, I needed the shelves trimmed just 1/4 of an inch. We don't have a saw, so he trimmed them for me and even hung them up for me while he was there. Isn't he great!

Here's what his closet looks like now:

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So much better! During the week he usually just plays with his train table and kitchen and we play a lot of hide and seek as a family. But on the weekends we pull all the toys out for him and he has a ball. He can't open the door, so we don't have to worry about climbing -yet. We will cross that bridge when we get there. Hopefully not for a while!

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Home Stories A to Z

One bare wall fixed!

This weekend I tackled one of the bare walls in our living room. I was really unsure of how it would turn out, but I decided to go ahead and I could always change it. I LOVE it!

Before:

After:

I hung everything kind of high because we plan to have seating on that wall eventually. I made templates of each piece use newspaper and marked where the screws should go. Then I hung the newspaper on the wall with painters tape and played with the arrangement.

These shelves were from Target for $20 each. It was a little more than I wanted to pay, but I had trouble finding deep shelves. The picture frame and vase on the top shelf I've had for years. The owl and door knocker were both from Hobby Lobby puchased last week. Both were on sale for 50% off and both were under $10. I can't remember exact prices. I can't turn down an owl though!

This clock was also from Hobby Lobby and I paid $30 after the 50% off sale. Those are mirrors around it. I love how fun it is!

These boxes were from Target. I've had them for almost 5 years, but they were a dark walnut wood tone before. I painted them over the weekend using my oil based primer (so I didn't have to sand) and then trim paint we had leftover. The orange bird was from a thrift store - 50 cents! It was red when I bought it and I just spray painted it. The green bird I got at Cracker Barrel a few months ago. The vase I got over a year ago out of town.

It's weird how the wall color looks different in every picture! The close up of the shelves is the best representation.

Anyway, with this addition and the curtains, I smile every time I walk in the living room. I love how fun and inviting our living room is!

Current State of our house- Part 2

Sorry this post is a little late. But, good news - you can expect better blog pictures from now on. I'm still using my cheapy camera because it's just best that way - read here. But, I found a new setting on the camera that is making the pictures wider. I knew something was off, I just couldn't figure out how to fix it for a while. I also learned about Picnik.com. Have you heard about this? It is a website to edit your photos and it's FREE! Love it!

So on to our tour. Let's start with the kitchen. Here's what it looked like when we closed:

And what it looks like now. Really all we've done in here is strip wallpaper, paint, move our furniture in, and install the microwave.

This is the view from the front door:

 The dining area from the doorway. Bags on the floor are for a living room project we are tackling this weekend!

 Rest of the cabinetry. To the left is the door to the backyard. Also, what do you think about all the clear glass on top of the cabinets? I just used what I had, but I'm thinking of thrifting more pieces and doing it all the way across. This picture probably shows the most accurate paint color. It's Bungalow Beige from Sherwin Williams.

 Dining area from the back door.

And I just noticed I didn't get the stove and microwave. It's beside the fridge.

And now for Harrison's room, which I LOVE! We didn't take a before picture because it was just a white room. Here's how it looks now:

View from the door. There is a window to the right.

 You can see part of the dresser in the picture above. Here is the dresser wall. I have lots of plans for this wall. (Oops, there were toys under that dresser!)

 And to the right of the door is his train table which he loves. I also have big plans for this wall. To the right is his closet which recently underwent some changes. Post coming soon!

The blue is a little brighter than it looks in these pictures, but you get the idea. We don't have a theme for his room. Just colorful, boy stuff and I'm especially drawn to vintage-y stuff.  We already have several things to hang in his room, but just haven't gotten to it yet. I do most of my hanging when he's napping.

I MADE CURTAINS!

Yes, I'm yelling with excitement! I sewed curtains for our living room and they actually look really good. I am shocked and excited!

Let me back up a bit. I received a sewing machine for Christmas from my mother-in-law. I had only used a sewing machine once and it was all set up for me, I just sewed 2 pieces of fabric together and made a pillow. So the fact that I set up my machine, cut my fabric, ironed and pinned down the seams, and sewed everything virtually on my own AND they turned out great, makes me so proud. I did have a tiny bit of help. The machine was giving me problems so I brought it in to work and one of our seamstresses looked at it for me. As I had suspected it was user error- I threaded it wrong.

I really enjoyed the project. I have tried tons and tons of hobbies, but I usually don't enjoy them or get very frustrated at the first error. I made a couple of mistakes on these and let me tell you ripping your seams out is time consuming and not fun but I never got frustrated. Maybe sewing is my meant-to-be hobby. I guess we will see after I take on a few more projects.

Anyway, let me remind you of what our living room window looked like before:

And now:

 Here is a close up of the rod: (Sorry I should have turned the overhead light off.)

 And a close up of the fabric:

I LOVE them. They make the room look so much taller and add so much personality to the room. I love the colors in the fabric too. Our main colors in the living room have been: green, teal, and orange. I only had a few orange things, so I'm going to switch those out for yellow and this fabric will fit right in.

I hung the curtain rod 5 inches down from the ceiling and each side is 1 foot out from the edge of the window. I've never done the high and wide thing before, but after reading it everywhere I decided to try it. What a difference- very dramatic!

I just did a small seam on the bottom and each side. The top is a 3 inch seam and I sewed ribbons in after seeing it on Welcome to Heardmont. She hot glued hers, but I just sewed them in. I don't have a hot glue gun -yet. I just love the way it makes the front of the curtains wave. I didn't line my curtains.

What do you think? Are you a sewer? Ever sewed curtains or used the iron on bonding stuff?

Current State of our house- Part 1

As I've mentioned before we did a lot of work to the house before we moved in (removing wallpaper, painted the entire interior, cleaned and cleaned). Then, we moved all the furniture in and started unpacking and hanging stuff. So, I wanted to do some before and afters of all the rooms in the house. None of the rooms are finished, but they have come a long way from when we bought the house. Then, I can just do posts on each new project we take on. You've already seen the hallway bathroom. Today I will be showing you the living room, master bedroom, and a sneak peek at our super messy office. Monday I will be showing the kitchen, and Harrison's room.

Living room before:

Living room now:
Wall that is shared with kitchen (TV will be mounted eventually)

 To the left of this picture is our front door. (I just finished up some curtains for this window and WOW! Post coming next week)

 Front door and entry table (I want to get a longer rectangle entry table eventually). This picture shows the best representation of the actual wall color.

 Blank wall that I have big plans for. Transformation hopefully happening this weekend with a post next week.

Master bedroom before: Ugly border!

Master bedroom now: The thing hanging on the left is a jewelry box. My mom is putting picutres in it for me. Hope to be working on a headboard really soon. There is a window to the left, but I didn't get a picture of it. Curtains will be coming soon for this room too! And matching night stands.

 Directly across from the bed is this half wall. To the left is our vanity area. See the night stand in the picture above? This dresser was in the same set. I painted it and changed the hardware a while back. Love it!

 My closet (Michael is using the one in the office. This house could use larger closets!) To the right is a small blank wall. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but it needs something.

The vanity area before:

And now:
I love the tray ceilings in our bedroom. You can't see it in the previous pictures. I replaced this mirror as well. I will be spray painting the handles and light fixture soon. To the right is a very small bathroom that I can't get a good picture of.

And this is what our office looks like right now: Our old headboard, part of our desk set, and lots of boxes and junk. We keep this door closed.

I had another post with all the colors, but just in case: (all paint is Sherwin Williams) Living room: Shagreen;   Master bedroom: Mountain Stream; Office: Swanky Gray.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Sprucing up "my" bathroom- for cheap!

One of the things Michael and I were so excited about with getting a house is having 2 separate bathrooms! The hall bathroom is "mine" and the one in our bedroom is "his". Of course we share occasionally.

I made a few small and cheap changes in my bathroom that made a huge difference. First off we removed all the wallpaper and painted along with the rest of the house. The color is Swanky Gray by Sherwin Williams. Then I brought in some stuff from our old bathroom - shower curtain, rugs, flowers, and candles. That was already a huge improvement.

Since we took down the huge frameless mirror to paint I decided to go ahead and replace it. I found this mirror at Home Goods for $35! It fits the space perfectly and adds a lot of personality.

Next, I spray painted the light fixture and cabinet hardware (previously brassy gold) with my handy Krylon Metalic Silver spray paint. I LOVE this stuff! I'm usually not a good spray painter, but this glides on and drys so quick. I took everything off, put on 2 coats of paint, and put it back on in about an hour.

That's all I've done to the bathroom so far. I really, really hate the countertops, but they will have to stay for a while. I was lucky because our old shower curtain had so many colors that it matched the countertops okay. I still want to put some art on the wall across from the mirror.

Before:

After:

I know these pictures aren't the greatest. It was a really hard room to get good angles.

Adding some curb appeal

We had a busy weekend doing typical cleaning stuff along with fixing our water heat, but we also had some time to amp up the curb appeal in front of our house. Let me just say - I love it! Here's what we did.

A few weeks ago Michael and his dad pressure washed the house. It was built in 2000 and I don't think it had ever been cleaned. It made a huge difference! They also pressure washed the front porch and then put Thompson's water seal down (a few days later, of course).

Michael's mom also came over that day and trimmed up the Crape Myrtles that line our driveway and the butterfly bush to the right of the stairs.

Then, this weekend we: planted bushes and flowers in front of the house; painted the front door; mulched the trees, bushes, and flower bed; changed the hardware on the door; and purchased a rug and pillow for the porch. Well, that's enough talk...you know what they say about pictures.

Before

After - All 3 Crape Myrtles are still there, I just didn't get the same angle.

Look how much brighter the siding is!

Before

After

Before

After - we removed the horse shoe after I took this picture. LOL

Close up of the flower bed-

To the left you can see the green and yellow bushes- Golden Euonymus

In the back there are 2 bushes - Camellias

The red flowers are lilies - sorry I don't know what kind

In front are yellow daisies and marigolds

Close up of the chair with pillow and rug. My grandfather built that chair for us for $75. We are going to get him to build another one so we can have a pair on the porch.